EDINA, Minn. — A Minnetonka man is charged with attempted second degree murder, aggravated robbery and assault in connection with an incident that ended with a doctor being shot in the head.
A criminal complaint filed Tuesday details the charges filed against 33-year-old Matthew Thomas Rush, who is accused of trying to rob his victim inside a parking ramp attached to M Health-Fairview Hospital in Edina.
A second person, 50-year-old Lucinda Ann Peterson, was charged with aggravated robbery for being a party to the crime, and two counts of aiding an offender.
Officers were dispatched to M Health-Fairview Southdale Hospital just before 9 p.m. Sept. 14 on reports of a shooting on the second floor of the west parking ramp. They found the victim in the emergency room being treated for a gunshot wound to the head. Doctors say the bullet had entered through the victim's forehead and exited through his scalp, causing deep lacerations that had to be closed with stitches and staples.
The victim, a doctor who works at the hospital, told investigators he had arrived for work and parked his vehicle in the ramp. A man later identified as Matthew Rush approached and tapped on the doctor's window, asking to use his cell phone. The victim said he handed his phone to Rush, who dialed a number, handed the phone back to him and pulled out a handgun.
Rush allegedly ordered the doctor back into the vehicle and threatened to kill him. At that point the victim says he grabbed for the gun, a struggle ensued and a single shot was fired, hitting him in the head. The victim told police he realized he was bleeding and ran for the hospital, while his assailant fled. The doctor was later able to give police a detailed description of the man who shot him.
Surveillance video captured images of the gunman loitering in a stairwell before the incident, and then running down the stairs after the shooting. A distinctive two-door vehicle with a large dent in the passenger door was caught on tape driving away from the scene.
Ten days after the shooting Edina detectives learned from Savage Police that the suspect vehicle had been involved in a number of credit card thefts. The stolen cards were used at a Walgreens by a woman named Lucinda Peterson to buy gift cards that were later used to make a hotel reservation under the same name. Savage Police told their Edina counterparts that Peterson was the registered owner of the silver car.
Edina Police were already familiar with Peterson, as she was a passenger in a vehicle that fled police on August 20. The driver of the car that day was Matthew Rush, who physically matched the detailed description given by the shooting victim. That description included a distinctive dark tattoo on Rush's neck. The doctor was shown a photo lineup, and he identified Rush as the man who shot him.
On September 27 Peterson's car was observed by police at a hotel in Bloomington. Rush was arrested inside the vehicle while police found Peterson in the room along with suspected methamphetamine and a notebook list that included "burner phones" and a "gun."
When questioned by police Peterson reportedly admitted to driving in the area of M Health Fairview that night, but said she was looking for a bank and must have taken a wrong turn. She denied that Rush was with her, claiming he was at work.
Prosecutors say Rush's criminal record includes felony convictions for fraudulent financial transactions, drug possession, and a 2014 armed robbery that was very similar to the one in the Edina parking ramp. In that case Rush reportedly approached a female victim in a parking ramp, pulled a gun and demanded that she "get in the car" before stealing her purse.
If convicted, Matthew Rush could face a sentence of 20 years in prison.